HP and Polycom, Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement under which Polycom will acquire the assets of HP's Visual Collaboration business, including the Halo Products and Managed Services business.

In conjunction with this acquisition, HP and Polycom have agreed to establish a strategic relationship in which Polycom will serve as an exclusive partner to HP for telepresence and certain video UC solutions, including both resale and internal HP deployments. The two companies have also agreed to make available Polycom's video applications for HP's WebOS platform.

The alliance extends Polycom's leadership in the Unified Communications and Collaboration market with HP's installed base of visual collaboration products and technology. The exclusive partnership broadens the company's strategic relationship with HP and expands the UC solutions HP offers its global customer base.

Under the terms of its agreements with HP, Polycom will provide expertise in software technology and UC infrastructure, covering the full continuum of integrated and secure mobile, desktop, room and telepresence solutions. HP will provide its expertise and leadership in go-to-market strategies for UC solutions and will resell Polycom's UC solutions including: personal and group UC devices, UC infrastructure, UC managed services, and audio/video software.

This alliance combines HP's networking scale and global reach with Polycom's expertise in video conferencing to provide customers world-class video and UC solutions through Polycom infrastructure deployed on HP networking and systems. This also allows customers to capitalize on the critical importance of networking as the foundation for a superior video experience and tap the global services of HP for turnkey communications solutions.

"This announcement is a truly groundbreaking development in the UC industry, creating a path for Polycom and HP to offer customers an end-to-end UC solution with an unparalleled user experience, interoperability, investment protection, and ease of deployment," said Andrew Miller, Polycom president and CEO. "The transaction makes the most of the strength of two industry leading, customer-centric organizations to offer a seamless UC experience with high-quality, enterprise-class telepresence solutions to millions of customers. Our broadened relationship with HP underscores Polycom's focus and commitment to bring the most advanced and innovative UC solutions to market."

"Customers will benefit from this transaction and alliance because they will receive the focus of two world-class technology companies through greater service and product opportunities," said Shane Robison, HP executive vice president and chief strategy and technology officer. "This transaction and alliance allows us to focus on executing our strategy in cloud computing and connectivity, while ensuring the long-term care of our customers and development of our services business."